Just a few years ago, the idea of an online social network was revolutionary. While the Internet has always provided a way for people to make connections with each other, social-networking sites made it easier than ever before to find old friends and make new ones. Today, it's rare to find someone who hasn't heard of names of various popular social networks.
A major challenge exists in that although many use these social networks and applications, the majority users are young (e.g. under 60 years old). Technology has built a generation gap between younger, intuitive users of social networks and older users that find access complex and non-intuitive. One reason for the apparent non-intuitive nature of technology in general and social network platforms in specific is that older users (e.g. above 60) find the syntax, workflow and language used to convey functionality complex and hard to understand. The second major reason is that most of the social networking sites are created in English. While there are many examples of language localization in software platforms, very few are designed with non-native English speakers in mind.
What the present art lacks is a mechanism for generating and deploying a social network that has native language functionality or symbols incorporated within the fundamental architecture of the system so as to not suffer from errors in conversion from one language to other like (e.g. improper idioms and phrases). Often when existing social network interfaces are localized to a different language, the process often uses idioms or language that, while grammatically correct, lacks the subtitle distinctions inherent in local, regional or ethnic dialects and patois. As a result, even when a user interface is localized to a “native” language, many potential users, such as older users, will still have trouble appreciating the functions and actions accessible to them. Moreover, what is needed is a system and apparatus for controlling the social network using speech, symbols and iconography based user interface elements such that a reliance on pure text input is minimized.
Therefore, what is needed in the art is a system and apparatus that allows users with little technical skill to create and deploy native language and icongraphically based social networks. Furthermore, what is needed in the art is a system and method of allowing users to control and utilize the functionality of the native language social network using native and instinctive language and communication strategies.